Strategic Plan

Endowment and Finance

Context

Saint Mark’s has made substantial progress in two important areas in recent years: faculty and staff compensation and student tuition assistance. The former has enhanced morale significantly and enabled the school to be far more competitive in its recruiting and retention of first-rate faculty. The latter has helped to provide access to the school for families unable to fully pay an increasing tuition, allowing the school to maintain its unique and unpretentious character. This progress has come, however, at a cost: great pressure has been placed upon the tuition that Saint Mark’s families pay in order to fund these goals. Maintaining faculty and staff salaries at these competitive levels and assuring that financial aid meets the need of the Saint Mark’s community clearly require that sources of income other than tuition be found. A robust endowment can provide an increasing source of that income. A campaign for such an endowment should be begun in the near future.

Such an endowment will not, however, be the sole solution. Continuing vigilance and fiscal restraint must be part of the school’s financial practice, as well as the continued investigation of alternative sources of income. In addition, a strong program of planned giving and an ongoing major gifts program should be implemented to enhance the culture of philanthropy that currently exists.

Goal

Aggressively increase Saint Mark’s endowment.

Implementation Steps

1. Launch the school’s first endowment campaign, targeting $4 million for faculty and staff compensation and financial aid.
2. Establish a tuition, salary and financial aid philosophy, especially with respect to the impact of a larger endowment.
3. Develop a planned giving program in coordination with the endowment campaign to provide continued support for the school.
4. Formalize an ongoing major gifts program that will continue to support the school following the endowment campaign.